


A Snowy Surprise

by toffiendfee



Category: Initial D
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hints of a budding romance if you squint and use a magnifying glass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toffiendfee/pseuds/toffiendfee
Summary: On a cold winter morning, Takumi accidentally acquires a cat.Keisuke, much to his surprise, really seems to like that fact.
Relationships: Fujiwara Takumi & Takahashi Keisuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	A Snowy Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> It's my birthday and I sort-of wrote this as a little gift to myself. I mean, it's after midnight here, but I'm sure it's still the 14th somewhere. I say it counts.
> 
> I saw that post going around about checking your car for hiding cats when it's cold, so that's how this idea was born in the middle of summer...

The air on this early winter morning was cold enough to bite his exposed skin, though Takumi supposed that at least he could be thankful for the wake-up call. Nothing better to wake you up than your nose starting to freeze off.

As he walked over to the car, a thin layer of fresh snow crunched under his feet. Lovely. Snow on the mountain would slow him down, so he could count on the fact that today wouldn't be the fastest he got back home and back into his bed.

He sighed and watched the puff of breath come out in a white cloud that dispersed quickly in the crisp January air. At least it currently wasn't snowing anymore, although that might change every moment. It was quiet in the way that only occurred in winter, when even the air seemed frozen.

Just as Takumi moved to open the driver side door, a small sound broke through the frozen stillness. Takumi paused to listen, and there it was again: A small, weakened mewl that sounded as if it was coming from underneath the car.

A bit alarmed, Takumi crouched to investigate the source. He wasn't all that keen on accidentally running something over while leaving the driveway.

A third mewl, somehow sounding more insistent than the first two, led Takumi's search to the front wheel. He leaned down to look more closely and let out a quiet _"huh"_ upon finally locating the source of the sounds. From inside the dark space between the tire and the fender well, two amber eyes were staring back at him.

Takumi blinked. The distinctively catlike eyes kept staring.

"That, uh, isn't a great place for a nap," Takumi said after a few more moments of silence. "I sort of need to use the car." He tapped the top of the car's hood to shoo the cat away, but it stayed right where it was.

_"Meow."_

Takumi sighed. "It's probably a bit warmer in there, huh?"

He felt the cat's eyes on him as he thought about how to solve this problem. As said before, he really could do without running something over.

Since the cat still gave no sign of wanting to move from its hiding place, Takumi carefully held out his hand into the open space so the cat could sniff it. Maybe he could beckon it to leave its spot by gaining its trust.

As he felt a little nose bump his fingers, he thought about whether there was still some canned tuna in the pantry to bribe the cat with, and why his dad was never there when he needed him. Seriously, why did he need so long to get one crate of tofu? He could have let him sleep a few more minutes if he was taking that much time.

Then again, maybe he wouldn't have noticed the cat in time if he hadn't had to wait.

Said cat meowed again and pressed its furry head against Takumi's hand. Takumi almost instinctively began to pet it.

_'So soft…'_

The cat started purring. Apparently, Takumi got lucky in that it wasn't a hardy stray who'd scratch the hell out of every human approaching it. Though he would certainly have noticed sooner if that had been the case.

He wondered if the cat had run away from its owners, with how tame it seemed to be. He supposed that the only way to find out about that was to look whether it had a collar, but for that it would have to come out from its dark hiding spot.

The cat was still purring, and Takumi thought that was nice, but now his fingers were slowly joining his nose on the list of body parts that were freezing off.

"Come on," he tried to beckon, "It can't be that great in there. You really need to find a better place."

The sudden sound of steps crunching on the snow made Takumi turn around and spot his dad with the crate of tofu and a cigarette alight in his mouth. "What are you doing there?" he asked gruffly, probably wondering why he wasn't already in the car and ready to make the delivery.

Takumi bit back the comment about his old man taking his sweet time to show up and pointed at the reason for his behaviour. "There's a cat in there."

"Huh," said his dad and hoisted the crate into the trunk. "Better get it out of there."

"Guess what I'm trying to do here," Takumi mumbled sourly. As always, his old man was being a great help.

"It looks to me like you're just petting it."

"I'm trying to gain its trust to get it out of there, stupid old man."

Bunta took a drag of his cigarette. "You shouldn't do that, idiot. What if it scratches you? Strays carry some nasty infections."

Takumi paused and tentatively pulled his hand back. The cat meowed in protest and finally stuck its head out of its hiding spot to stare accusingly at the human who had dared to stop petting it. Takumi could now see that it was a light grey tabby cat, looking pretty small as far as he could judge. He didn't know much about cats, but this one still looked pretty young. And it wasn't wearing a collar.

The cat seemed to have finally decided that the top of the tire wasn't as good of a spot as "closer to the hand that had been scratching behind its ears and was supposed to continue that." It gracefully jumped down on the frozen ground and meowed demandingly for Takumi to continue the scratching.

"It seems tame," he said as he complied with the cat's wishes. "I think it's a she. I wonder if she has an owner."

"She better does," Bunta said, blowing away a cloud of smoke. "I don't think she will survive another cold night on the street. The weather's getting worse."

"Oh," Takumi said, looking down at the cat with a new sort of understanding. He felt sorry for the little thing. "I hope she won't keep hiding under cars."

"That spot's called 'dead cat hole' for a reason," his father commented gruffly. Takumi glared at him, and the cat mewled as if she had understood the insinuation. Takumi looked down at her and frowned. He knew that _he_ certainly wouldn't enjoy being all alone out in the cold, and he doubted the cat did.

"Can't we bring her inside for tonight, just until we find her owner?"

His dad gave him a pointed stare. "And where do you want to keep her, huh?"

Takumi shrugged. "In my room, I guess. Or in the storage."

"Definitely not in the storage. Can't allow an unchecked stray around the food."

"My room, then," Takumi said. He decided to try and lift the cat up to see if she'd allow it. She did nothing more than mew quietly in protest upon the sudden change in position, and once Takumi resumed scratching her behind her ears, she started purring again.

"Then get going," Bunta interrupted the peaceful moment. "You'll be late for the delivery."

"And the cat…?"

"Get her inside. I'll make sure she doesn't cause chaos while you're gone. Don't get me wrong, though. She's your responsibility until we find her owner. I have enough work already. No time to look after a cat, too."

Takumi couldn't suppress a little smile, especially as the cat meowed quietly again and bumped his hand with her head. "Thanks, dad."

Bunta gave no sign of acknowledging the thanks. "Keep her out of the kitchen. We can't sell tofu with cat hair in it."

"Better than cigarette ash," Takumi mumbled, without much bite to it.

At least the cat would have a warm place to stay until her owner was found.

* * *

A loud meow welcomed Takumi as he came back from work a week after that eventful morning. Yukiko, which was the name Takumi had given the cat (against his dad's advice, who had said he'd only grow attached), walked up to him and meowed again, almost accusingly.

"You're hungry, huh?" Takumi mumbled, slipping out of his shoes. Yukiko followed him into the kitchen and delightfully started devouring the cat food that Takumi gave her. He had taken her to a vet who had informed him that she wasn't chipped and healthy safe for being slightly malnourished. Takumi had also put up some posters asking if anyone was missing a cat, but so far nobody had called. Honestly, Takumi hoped that it would stay that way. He had sort of gotten used to Yukiko jumping on his back and licking his face first thing in the morning, which seemed to be her favoured method of informing him that she was hungry or in need of attention.

The bell of the shop's door rang, informing Takumi that right now, something else needed his attention. His dad had immediately excused himself to the corner store to buy cigarettes once his son returned from work, so the tofu shop was in Takumi's hands for the duration.

"Coming," he called out and left Yukiko alone with her bowl of food to tend to the customer. "What can I do for-"

He trailed off into silence upon seeing who had entered the shop. "Keisuke-san?" he asked once he had gotten over his initial surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to visit you," said Keisuke Takahashi, looking around curiously. He hadn't visited him at home before. In fact, all the times of Keisuke seeking him out alone that Takumi could remember had been in form of stopping him on his way home from the delivery. He wasn't sure if he preferred this.

But now Keisuke was here, and he probably wasn't going to get rid of him that easily. Takumi silently bid goodbye to his dreams of relaxing a bit after his day at work.

"What for?" he asked, pretty certain that Keisuke wouldn't visit him without a reason.

His teammate shrugged. "I'm just here to tell you that aniki-" He paused in the middle of the sentence, eyes fixed on something behind Takumi. "Who's that?"

"…Who's what?" Takumi furrowed his brows and turned around. On the threshold to the living area stood Yukiko the cat, curiously inspecting the visitor with her large amber eyes.

"Oh, that," Takumi said sheepishly.

He and Keisuke both watched as the cat walked into the shop area, meowing once.

"I didn't know you had a cat," Keisuke said, still looking.

"Only since a week. She's staying here until her owner picks her up. Or not, I guess."  
Takumi certainly hoped it would be the latter.

"Ah." Keisuke seemed to be listening only with half an ear as the cat walked over to him.

"She seems to like you," Takumi offered, watching Yukiko rub her head against Keisuke's leg.

"Of course she does," Keisuke said, now completely focused on the cat, "Who doesn't?"

Right off the bat, a handful of names of people who would beg to differ popped up in Takumi's mind, but he decided that it wouldn't be of any use to mention that. Besides, he was currently way too transfixed by the sight of Keisuke interacting with the cat.

"Come here, gorgeous," Keisuke cooed and held out his hand to let the cat sniff it. Yukiko obviously decided that this human was worthy of the high honour of being allowed to pet her. She purred as Keisuke scratched her behind her ears.

"She's adorable." He finally looked back up at Takumi. "What's her name?"

Takumi was too fascinated by the discovery that Keisuke liked cats to answer at first. "Yukiko. That's what I named her. I dunno if she already has a name. She had no collar."

"You found her outside?"

"She was sleeping on my tire."

Keisuke nodded thoughtfully. "I had that happen with one of the neighbours' cats once. Good thing I noticed in time."

"Yeah."

They fell silent, Keisuke continuing to pet the cat and Takumi watching, suspecting that if he had more jealous tendencies, he would be feeling very insulted right now. He hadn't had Yukiko for a week, and she was already playing favourites.

"I wonder if she's been living on the streets for long," Keisuke mused.

Takumi shrugged. "I never saw her around before."

"Maybe her owners will find her."

"Maybe," Takumi agreed unwillingly, not pointing out how much he didn't want that to happen.

Keisuke finally got up with a sigh. "Well, I actually came here to tell you that next weekend's practise meeting is getting postponed. Aniki's schedule got a bit messed up."

Takumi wondered why the other felt the need to come by in person just for that. "Okay," he simply said, settling on Keisuke probably just being in the area and curious to see where he lived. Not that Takumi had never been curious about the brothers' home, too.

Yukiko meowed, and Keisuke glanced down at her again. "She's a beauty. I always wanted a cat when I was younger. But I wasn't allowed to get one. Mom's allergic."

"Oh," Takumi said, unsure about what else to add.

Yukiko meowed and bumped her head against Keisuke's leg again. Then she looked at Takumi and meowed a second time. Keisuke laughed. "Sure I'll visit again," he said and bent down to scratch the cat under her chin. "I mean, if I'm allowed to?" He shot a look at Takumi and smiled, looking hopeful.

"Uh, sure," said Takumi, who hadn't expected this turn of events. Discovering that Keisuke had a soft spot for cats was… an experience, to say the least. He wondered if that extended to other things, too. At the very least, he hadn't seen Keisuke act this quietly before. Who would've known that he could be actual pleasant company when he wasn't yelling about racer's pride or getting annoyed at Takumi for not knowing enough about cars?

"Sure," he repeated more steadily, "That would be fine."

Yukiko purred.


End file.
